Century-old firehouse regains charm

Frank Juliano

Updated 10:33 pm, Friday, January 18, 2013

Bridgeport firefighter Jayson Streit puts a fresh coat of paint on the old Engine 10 Firehouse on Putnam Street in Bridgeport, Conn. Friday, Jan. 18, 2013. The firefighters are volunteering their time and labor to restore the 100-year-old building, which until it was decommissioned in 2007 was the oldest firehouse in Bridgeport.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

Bridgeport firefighter Jesse Seto puts a fresh coat of paint on the old Engine 10 Firehouse on Putnam Street in Bridgeport, Conn. Friday, Jan. 18, 2013. The firefighters are volunteering their time and labor to restore the 100-year-old building, which until it was decommissioned in 2007 was the oldest firehouse in Bridgeport.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

Bridgeport firefighter Martin Magzag paints the trim in what used to be the bunk room at the old Engine 10 Firehouse on Putnam Street in Bridgeport, Conn. Friday, Jan. 18, 2013. The firefighters are volunteering their time and labor to restore the 100-year-old building, which until it was decommissioned in 2007 was the oldest firehouse in Bridgeport.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

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How to donate
People who would like to donate to the Putnam Street firehouse restoration project may send checks made out to the Bridgeport Firefighters Historical Society, and mailed to Fire Headquarters, 30 Congress St., Bridgeport CT 06604.

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BRIDGEPORT -- The old Engine 10 firehouse on Putnam Street on the city's East Side was state-of-the-art in its day -- but its day was 100 years ago.

Now a group of active-duty and retired firefighters is working to restore the squat brick building to its former glory, with the goal of using it as a public safety museum.

Deputy Chief Bruce Porzelt, who worked out of Engine 10 in the 1970s, is leading the volunteer effort to refurbish it, and his enthusiasm during a tour Friday was palpable.

The apparatus floor still has the original cobblestones peeking through the cement. When the building opened in 1913, horses pulled the engine and ladder truck, and the cobblestones provided traction for the animals, he said.

A box with lighted number that looks like a bingo caller's board is still mounted by the door. The lighted numbers represented the number of companies on duty throughout the city.

"The fewer that were on, the busier we could be here,'' Porzelt said.

But while the Bridgeport Fire Department had 520 men at one time, there are 293 men and women now and some numbers on the box represent companies that no longer exist, the deputy chief said.

There is a hayloft on the second floor, where volunteers have removed the false, dropped ceiling that was installed later to conserve heat. Porzelt reached into one of the "lockers,'' actually closets, that were installed in the 1930s to replace the simple wooden pegs firefighters hung their clothes on.

Inside the closet were a number of the original light fixtures, delicate-looking globes of milky glass, etched in gold paint.

"We're putting these back up, now that the ceilings are the original height.'' the deputy chief said.

Lt. Peter Morrotto, who is also active in the Bridgeport Firefighters Historical Society, said the "battery charging room'' on the second floor was used to keep the portable lamps firefighters carried into buildings powered up. Although the ancient-looking switches and wires look like they belonged in Dr. Frankenstein's lab, it was actually an upgrade.

"The men used to carry kerosene lamps into burning buildings, which, when you think about it, sounds crazy,'' Porzelt said.

Whereas firehouses are now notified by emails and texts when hydrants are out of service, that information used to be transmitted by teletype machines. Two of them are still in the old firehouse.

"We'd stand around the machine, waiting for the printout, saying `Come on, come on,' '' Porzelt said. "It felt like it took forever.''

Retired Capt. Luis Rivera served for several years in the old Engine 10, and he recalled it as a good assignment.

The building was decommissioned in 2007, when the new Engine 10 opened a short distance away, on Boston Avenue. "This was a part of the neighborhood. You knew everybody who lived on the street, and they knew us.''

Rivera showed the four brass poles, one in each corner of the upstairs dorm, that men used to reach the apparatus floor quickly. "Your last day on (duty), you had to polish all the brass,'' Rivera recalled.

Members of the historical society have $1 a week deducted from their paychecks to buy materials for the restoration. Three brand-new city firefighters, who were sworn in Wednesday night, are members of the society and are already working on the old firehouse.

So is Porzelt's brother, Charles, who is treasurer of the society. Members of the public who'd like to donate to the project may send checks made out to the Bridgeport Firefighters Historical Society, and mailed to Fire Headquarters, 30 Congress St., Bridgeport CT 06604.